Chinks & Chasms: Garden Gnomes
by FemaleChauvinist
Summary: Three dwarves and a rabbit are turned to stone by the White Witch, and fall through a chink or chasm into the World of Men. There they seem destined to spend the rest of their existence as garden gnomes…unless Aslan's power to restore extends even here.
1. Betrayed

**Disclaimer:** Narnia and recognizable characters thereof are the property of the estate of C. S. Lewis; all original characters and story © 2018 FemaleChauvinist.

 _Do not post without permission. Do not copy/print without including the above disclaimer in its entirety._

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"…But it was one of the magical places of that world, one of the chinks or chasms between that world and this. There were many chicks or chasms between worlds in old times, but they have grown rarer." ~ Aslan _Prince Caspian_

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 **Chapter One: Betrayed**

Far in the wilds of Narnia during the hundred years' Winter lived three dwarves and a rabbit. The hardships of the winter had left the dwarves almost gnome-like in appearance, and only the coal they dug from their mine kept them from freezing.

There had been four of them once, and all had sworn that they would never defect to the Witch, as so many of the dwarves seemed wont to do. But the day they had found the half grown rabbit shivering on the doorstop and had taken it in, sharing their scanty food with it as a matter of course, Daskor had grown moodily silent. A week later, he had disappeared.

The other dwarves looked at each other, but did not voice their suspicions. Each thought of moving their home, but where else could they go? Surely even if their brother had gone to join the White Witch, that didn't mean he would betray them.

And what harm had they done her? True, they had vowed never to join her, but neither had they actively opposed her; they weren't even part of the smugglers who brought food from Archenland, though they had certainly made use of some of those supplies. The worst they had done was take in a rabbit that had been so frightened by whatever it had experienced that it had been robbed of the power of Speech, and surely that was no great crime.

They rationalized and comforted themselves with those thoughts, yet none of them was truly surprised when a sleigh drew up in front of their home and a pounding came at the door. Their only surprise was that the Witch had thought them important enough to come herself and had not merely sent her minions.

The rabbit cowered behind Rarmitton as the pounding came at the door, but none of the others had time to think of hiding. "Open in the name of Jadis, queen of Narnia!" called a voice that was horrifyingly familiar.

"It's Daskor," Dekhoffyn whispered, feeling actually sick to his stomach at the thought that their brother's betrayal had gone even this far.

"She won't have given him a choice," Sonnagan whispered through stiff lips, though he couldn't help feeling it would have been unnecessary to mention them to the Witch at all. Perhaps Daskor's loyalties truly did lie with the Witch, and he had not gone to her merely to save his own life, as they had assumed.

The pounding came again, more insistent this time, and was accompanied by a fierce growl that made the rabbit cower down even more, his nose trembling. Then the door flew open, and Daskor stepped aside to disclose the White Witch standing there angry and terrible, flanked by two huge wolves, their teeth bared. "What do you mean, refusing to open to the queen of Narnia?" she demanded.

Sonnagan swallowed and licked suddenly dry lips. "We — you surprised us, your majesty," he said.

"Hah! A poor excuse, but no matter. I have been informed that you harbour a spy among you."

"N-no, majesty!" Sonnagan exclaimed, wondering if Daskor had even gone so far as to make up tales against them. Did he bear an actual grudge against his brothers for some reason? Sonnagan sent a despairing glance his way, but saw no hint even of recognition in his eyes. _Bewitched,_ he thought almost hopefully; his treachery would at least be easier to bear if he was under the Witch's spell and not in his own right mind. Yet Sonnagan doubted it was true; Daskor's eyes were cold and hard, but still strangely _sane_.

The Witch's eyes narrowed. "Do not lie to me!" she hissed. "I know that you have taken in a spying rabbit; what has it told you?"

A quivering nose appeared for an instant from behind Rarmitton's leg before disappearing again.

"Nothing, majesty!" Sonnagan declared, bold in the exact truthfulness of the statement, though her apparent fear of being found out made him wonder just what the rabbit had witnessed.

"He can't Talk, your majesty," Dekhoffyn put in.

"Is this true?" the Witch demanded haughtily of Daskor.

"Aye," he said gruffly. "It ain't said a word since it came."

"But it may," she murmured as if to herself; "it may. Perhaps it already has…"

"No!" Sonnagan cried, sensing what she was about to do.

The rabbit leapt out, going to its hind legs in a gesture of appeal — and there it was frozen as she waved her wand.

"Now, Daskor, we must be off," she said with an air of dusting her hands of the affair as she turned.

Daskor followed without a backward glance or apparent shame for what he had done, leaving the three statues that had been his brothers behind him.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	2. Flow of Time

**Chapter Two: Flow of Time**

Years passed in Narnia. At first one was indistinguishable from the next as the White Witch's Winter raged on, so that no one could have told exactly how many had elapsed. Then one day Daskor, grown quite plump now on the Witch's food, was driving her through the snowy woods when they came upon a Son of Adam.

It was the beginning of the end for the Witch, though she refused to accept her defeat and dared to believe even that she could emerge the victor against Aslan, the Great Lion himself.

But it was he who was victorious, not only over the Witch, but even over Death itself. And with his coming all Narnia sprang to life in glorious Spring once more.

Time that had once seemed to drag in Narnia now flew by. Even the winter was a thing of beauty, of sparkling icy woods and snow dances in the clearings. And with the changing of the seasons, years could be counted accurately once more.

But not for the three dwarves and a rabbit who still stood as statues in what had once been their home. Time for them had no meaning, nor had anything else; they were as cold and dead as if they had truly been hewn from the rock instead of once being living flesh.

But though they were not aware of it, the changes made by time's passing were to have an effect even on them.

Little by little, with the freezing and thawing of the seasons, a crack in the ceiling of their cave home began to grow wider. Wise in the ways of mining, had they been conscious they would first have spoken of it worriedly, then in a year or so taken steps to shore it up; perhaps in due course even moved to some safer home. But now they were in no condition to take such precautions, and eventually the whole front half of the ceiling gave way, pouring down on the three statues.

The floor had always sloped slightly toward the back; now the whole mass of rubble tumbled in an avalanche toward the far wall. And there, where the rock had been weakened by seasons now of rain and meltwater flowing through, a Crack opened and swallowed up the four statues.

 **oOo**

It could not be said that Sonnagan opened his eyes, for his eyes were made of stone and would neither open nor shut. But the sensation was of opening his eyes, as for the first time he saw a patch of blue sky above him. Dimly he remembered the Witch accusing the rabbit of being a spy, then waving her wand and turning them all to stone. Only a moment ago, it seemed to him, but the absence of snow proved that some time had passed. And the trees above had green leaves on their branches; could it be that Spring had come to Narnia at last? If the Witch was losing her hold, perhaps that explained why he could now think and see and feel and hear.

He wondered that he no longer seemed to be in the cave, but did not guess that he had fallen right out of Narnia; that while even the Witch's death did not break the power of her spell without the action of a greater power, it was less here in the World of Men.

But whether it came because of Spring or because he was out of Narnia, he soon came to realize it was not the blessing he had first thought.

He could use his mind and senses, yes, but he was still made of stone; he could not move, or attempt to communicate with the other three. He could only stare up at the same patch of blue sky, or stars if it happened to be night. Only once in a while a bird flew overhead to break the monotony.

When it rained, the water ran into his nose and made him want to sneeze, and he found himself wishing he could catch cold if only for a change. The thought even crept into his mind that if the Witch won, perhaps he would be returned to that state of absolute nothingness, but he banished it quickly; he was not so selfish as to wish a return of Winter on all of Narnia simply to ease his own boredom.

He lost count of the days and nights that passed with a slow tedium that robbed all the joy from a beautiful spring. And then one day he heard the faint sound of humming as someone came through the forest.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	3. Lady Lobelia's Garden

**Chapter Three: Lady Lobelia's Garden**

Lady Lobelia Grahame hummed softly to herself as she walked through the sun-dappled woods, occasionally stopping to dig up a flowering plant and place it carefully in her basket to replant in her garden at home. She was not a lady in the true sense of the English noble order, but her friends had all taken to calling her by the title to reflect her gentle grace and stately bearing.

The basket was nearly full and she was just thinking of turning back when she saw a sight so odd her humming stopped off short. Half buried in a pile of dirt and rubble was what appeared to be the statue of a small man, a fairy or a gnome.

"How did _that_ get here, I wonder!" she exclaimed softly to herself. She was sure it had not been there the last time she passed through these woods, but even if her memory was faulty and she had not seen this exact spot before, that did not explain the statue's presence.

The thought of German bombers during the war entered her mind for a moment, but there was no sign that there had ever been a house here; none of the destruction a bomb would cause even if it fell in the forest. And, in any case, surely she would have heard the explosion if a bomb had fallen so near her house! This area had been blessedly spared during the war; there must be some other answer.

Brushing some of the dirt off the statue's face with the corner of her apron, she marvelled at the fine detail the sculptor had put into the carving. This could be a valuable work of art, and yet apparently it was here for the taking.

Endeavouring to dig it out in an attempt to see how easy it might be to move, she soon discovered it was not alone. In all she found three of the gnomes, as well as a rabbit so finely detailed she could see every strand of fur on its body.

"You would look fine standing in my garden," she murmured. But getting them back alone would be beyond her; even one would be far too heavy to carry. No, she would have to return with her gardener and a wheelbarrow.

With that decided in her mind, she stood and dusted her apron off before slipping her trowel into her pocket and picking up her basket of transplants. Still too occupied with the mystery to resume her humming, she made her way back to her cottage.

 **oOo**

The old gardener George Hendrickson grumbled the whole way as he pushed the wooden wheelbarrow through the woods to the place where Lady Lobelia had found the statues; as usual, she paid him no mind. He would do her bidding in the end; that was the important thing, and she didn't in the least care what his own opinion on the matter might be.

As his complaining had been a constant murmur it could not possibly increase, but it grew louder and more forceful when he saw that the statues were each so large that he could not fit more than one in the wheelbarrow at a time, and would have to make four trips.

"Enough," Lady Lobelia said with quiet firmness. "I pay you to do as I tell you, Hendrickson, not to complain about it."

"Yes, missus." The complaints subsided once more to the endless stream of muttering that flowed over her ears as if it had been nothing more than the ceaseless chatter of a brook.

She did not trust him alone either for the loading or the unloading, fearful that with his view of it as a senseless project he would damage the statues by not treating them with enough care. If he resented her accompanying him back and forth on each of his trips, he knew enough not to say so loudly enough for her to make out the words.

The gardener's grumbling did not cease once all four statues had been transported to the garden, though now perhaps he had more cause. Lady Lobelia was determined to place the statues that day, but couldn't make up her mind where she wanted them, forcing Hendrickson to move each one several times before she was finally satisfied. Then at last he was allowed to go on about what normal tasks there was still time for, while she set about planting the seedlings she had dug up.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	4. Daughter of Eve

**Chapter Four: Daughter of Eve**

Six-year-old Jenny was enchanted with the statues from the moment she first saw them in her grandmother's garden. "Oh, Granma!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Where did they come from? What are their names?"

Lady Lobelia smiled at the eager little girl. "I found them in the woods, and you may name them if you like."

"This is Thompkins," Jenny said instantly, indicating Sonnagan. She cocked her head. "An' the bunny is Cuddy."

By the end of that visit, she had found names for all of them, and insisted on saying goodbye to each one while her ten-year-old brother David waited impatiently.

"They aren't _real_ , Jen," he told her scornfully.

"Yes, they are!" Jenny insisted, pouting.

David sighed, knowing the futility of arguing with her. "Well, come on anyway; we'll be late for supper."

With a final wave to her new friends, Jenny skipped after him. "Goodbye, Thompkins! Goodbye, Cuddy! Goodbye, Hopkins and Willikins!"

She visited her grandmother every chance she could after that, but spent most of her time in the garden.

She always greeted all of them and stopped to pet Cuddy, but Thompkins was clearly her favourite. His hand had been extended at the moment he was petrified, and slipping under his arm Jenny would sit talking to him for hours. *****

As for Thompkins, he found the time did not weigh nearly as heavily now, and looked forward to the visits from the little Daughter of Eve — for so she must be, and again his heart thrilled with hope that the White Witch's cruel reign was finally over.

"I like coming through the woods to Granma's house by myself," she confided one day; David had complained so often of the increased trips that their parents agreed Jenny was big enough to walk the scant half mile on her own. "I pretend I'm Little Red Riding Hood, an' I have to watch out for the big, bad wolf."

Her lack of real fear about the wolf convinced Thompkins that it was merely a part of her pretend game, but his heart clenched. _Yes, be careful of the wolves, little Daughter of Eve!_ After all, the Witch might be defeated, but that didn't mean all her henchmen had been found and destroyed. A little girl like Jenny would be barely a mouthful for one of the huge wolves he remembered all too clearly.

Never once did it even occur to him that they might not be in Narnia at all; Jenny spoke of talking to birds and animals and of their responses, so even a lack of Talking Animals did not raise his suspicions. But even if the thought had crossed his mind he would have quickly dismissed it; there was simply no way for four immobile statues to have left Narnia.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 *** Illustration for this scene can be found at femalechauvinist . deviantart . com** _[slash]_ **art** _[slash]_ **Stony-Confidante-730198325**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	5. First Aid

**Chapter Five: First Aid**

Of course, Jenny still spent some time with her grandmother, despite the statues having stolen much of her affections. One afternoon she was inside having tea and biscuits with the Lady Lobelia, and George Hendrickson was alone in the garden.

As usual he muttered as he worked spading up the soil around some of the rosebushes. Thompkins found the endless stream of complaints slightly amusing, even when, as so often happened, they centred on Lady Lobelia's new garden accents. The statues were in the way, Hendrickson felt, and just made a nuisance to shovel around. Thompkins took no offence, guessing rightly that Hendrickson would have found something else to complain about if the four statues had not been there to serve the purpose.

Driving the spade half angrily into the dirt, he was far from being as careful as he should have been, and with one particularly forceful thrust, he struck the knee of one of the statues.

A chip of stone flew off, the pain so great that Thompkins wished he had a voice to scream; wished he could clench his teeth or take a deep breath or do anything as a reaction to the pain. It hurt worse than anything he had ever felt as a flesh and blood dwarf, he felt sure; whether because he had never before been struck hard on the kneecap or from some property of the stone, he had no way of knowing.

As the spade clanged on the stone and Hendrickson realized what he had done, he was silent for the first time in all his years of tending Lady Lobelia's gardens. Panting with the horror of having damaged one of her precious statues, he bent to see if perhaps the damage could be hidden by pulling a leafy branch to cover it.

What he saw struck terror in his heart; for a moment he stopped breathing. Then he jumped to his feet and ran for the house, wailing incoherently and flapping his hands in the air.

Lady Lobelia half started to her feet as he burst into the room where she and Jenny sat having tea. "Good heavens, Hendrickson; whatever is the matter?"

"The statue! The statue!"

"Well, what about the statue, then?"

"Which one?" Jenny demanded; no one paid attention to her.

"I chipped it — just a little, my lady; barely enough to show — and it's _bleeding_! The statue's _bleeding_!" He was nearly sobbing now in his fear, and Lady Lobelia snorted softly.

"For goodness' sake stop that noise. Of course the statue isn't bleeding; you probably got a bit of sap or red clay on it. Really, I don't expect this kind of hysteria from you, George."

"But, my lady, if you _saw_ it…" Hendrickson insisted, slightly calmer but his hands still trembling.

"I don't have to see it to know bleeding statues are utter nonsense," Lady Lobelia insisted firmly. "I know what the matter is, Hendrickson; you've been drinking."

"No, my lady —"

"Now, don't deny it; we both know you're too fond of the bottle for your own good, and now see what a fool it's made of you. You go home and sleep it off, and when you come tomorrow I don't want any more talk of bleeding statues."

"Yes, my lady," he murmured, turning to go. "But I _wasn't_ drinking," he muttered under his breath as he went. "An' I _know_ what I saw, an' it wasn't any sap or clay. Huh! Unnatural, those statues are; woulda done better to leave 'em where she found 'em…"

 **oOo**

In all their debate, neither Hendrickson nor Lady Lobelia had noticed when Jenny slipped from the room.

The gnomes were so real to her that the idea of one bleeding didn't seem frightening or even strange; her first thought was worry over one of her friends being hurt. So as Lady Lobelia attempted to reason with Hendrickson, Jenny had left them and run out into the garden, calling her friends' names and anxiously looking to see which one had been damaged.

"Oh, poor Thompkins!" she exclaimed on seeing his knee, a chip about the size of a tuppence missing and blood running down his leg.

Thompkins found that her sympathy strangely seemed to make the pain of his injury a little less, though he was himself slightly shaken by the idea that he could bleed even as a statue. Had he encountered such a thing himself, he could well believe he would have gone screaming and running as Hendrickson had. _Dear, brave Daughter of Eve!_ he thought fondly as Jenny dropped to her hands and knees to search through the leaves for the piece of stone.

"You'll be fine, Thompkins," she cooed softly. Suddenly she pounced, emerging triumphant with the bit of stone in her hand. Several crumbs of dirt clung to it, and she regarded it and the trickle of blood thoughtfully for a moment. "I'll be right back," she promised, and ran to the spigot at the side of the house to wash the chip off. When she returned, she was carrying a small watering can half full of water; the rest appeared to have splashed onto her dress.

"This might sting," she warned, and sprinkled the water from the can over Thompkins' knee, washing the blood away. Before more could appear, she placed the chip where it belonged, turning it carefully until she found the position where it seemed to fit perfectly. Thompkins found the pain immediately lessened; bearable now, though still worse than he had ever felt as a flesh and blood dwarf.

Holding the chip in place with one hand, Jenny dug in her pocket with the other, producing a freshly folded handkerchief. Wrapping it once around Thompkins' knee, she tied it carefully in front. "There! Now I'll kiss it an' make it all better, like Mummy does when I scrape _my_ knee." Bending, she planted a soft kiss on the bandage.

At first neither Thompkins nor Jenny noticed a change. But then Thompkins realized a strange sensation was spreading from the spot Jenny had kissed; almost as if he were returning to his living flesh, if such a thing hadn't been impossible.

Jenny watched in wide-eyed wonder and amazement as colour spread over Thompkins' leg, then rapidly engulfed his whole body.

Only Aslan could break the spell of the White Witch and bring life back to creatures she had turned to stone, but there was no reason he could not use the kiss of a little girl to do it if he so chose. And unlike the Witch, his power was not in the least diminished in the World of Men, or indeed in any world.

But Tompkins knew or thought of none of that, revelling only in the feeling of life spreading through his stone-cold limbs.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	6. Out of a Story

**Chapter Six: Out of a Story**

Before Thompkins could fully grasp what had happened, Jenny had leapt to her feet. In growing excitement and wonder she danced through the garden, kissing each of the statues. "I knew it!" she cried rapturously. "I knew you were real!"

As they each came to life, they moved closer to Thompkins, the eldest of them and their unofficial leader. At last they all stood huddled uncertainly together, with Cuddy crouching behind Hopkins.

"Thank ye," Thompkins said gruffly, half surprised to find his voice still worked.

"Y-you're welcome," Jenny breathed. Much as she had half believed her own fancy that they were real, she had never expected them to truly come to life like this.

"Please, Daughter of Eve, we have to know…is the Witch dead?"

Jenny wrinkled her nose. "Witch? What Witch?"

"The White Witch — the one who made it always Winter in Narnia." It gave Thompkins a curious upside down feeling to have to explain the White Witch to anyone; could it truly have been Spring so long even her memory was forgotten?

Jenny's eyes widened. "Narnia? You mean like in David's book?"

"Book?" Thompkins questioned, feeling more and more confused. "Do you mean we're not in Narnia?"

"No," Jenny told him.

"Then how will we get back?" Hopkins asked bluntly.

"Come talk to David," Jenny suggested. "He knows all about Narnia!" She turned to leave the garden, and the four followed slowly, Thompkins limping badly on his injured knee until Hopkins wordlessly picked up a stout stick and handed it to him to lean on.

"David! David!" Jenny cried, running into the yard. "The statues — they came to life — an' they're from Narnia!"

David turned, ready to scoff, but the words died on his lips at the sight of the figures behind his sister. "Is that — a _Talking_ Rabbit?" he breathed, catching sight of the quivering nose behind Hopkins.

"He was," Hopkins said soberly. "But we think he saw somethin' that scared him so badly he forgot how to Talk."

"Hysteria," David said wisely; he had overheard his father use the term.

"An' Hendrickson chipped Thompkins' knee with the shovel!" Jenny said, clenching her fists angrily.

"If he hadn't, ye'd never have…unstoned us," Thompkins pointed out, but his face was pale and sweaty and he leaned heavily on his staff.

"Why don't you all come to my treehouse; we can talk there?" David suggested.

He led them along the back of the lawn to the treehouse that stood just outside the woods. "I'll carry the rabbit up, and I _guess_ I could carry you up, too, if you need me to," he offered.

Whether it was the doubt in David's voice or his own pride, Thompkins shook his head. "I c'n manage," he said gruffly.

"Be careful!" Jenny cried anxiously as he leaned his walking stick against the tree and started slowly up the ladder, stepping up with his good leg and bringing the bad one to the same level. Jenny held her breath until he reached the top, then quickly scrambled up after him, taking for granted that she was invited as well, though usually David's treehouse was a boys-only sanctum forbidden to small sisters.

It took several minutes of coaxing by Hopkins for Cuddy to reluctantly jump into David's arms as the boy crouched in front of him. Holding the rabbit carefully in one arm, he climbed the ladder with the other hand.

Cuddy jumped out of his arms the instant they cleared the floor of the treehouse, skittering to press trembling against Thompkins' side.

Leaning over, Jenny softly stroked his fur. "It's all right, Cuddy," she crooned. "David wouldn't hurt you."

David climbed the rest of the way into the treehouse, allowing Hopkins and Willikins room to climb up as well. "Have a seat," he invited, gesturing to the old cushions and packing boxes scattered beside the walls. "I'll go get the book, an' some bandages an' iodine for your knee."

"If it's not too much to ask, a bite to eat wouldn't go amiss," Willikins said hesitantly.

"Aye," Hopkins agreed. "Ain't none of us eaten in only Aslan knows how long, an' there wasn't any too much then. But don't go to any trouble for us," he added hastily.

"I'll be right back," David promised. Swinging onto the ladder, he dropped more than climbed down it in the manner his father said was a wonder hadn't already broken both legs and went running across the lawn toward the house.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	7. Tending Hurts

**Chapter Seven: Tending Hurts**

When David returned carrying a large picnic hamper, Cuddy had been coaxed into Jenny's lap and she was stroking his fur and crooning softly to him.

The dwarves looked on with undisguised anticipation as David began unpacking the hamper. They were hungry more from the deprivations of the Winter than from their time as statues; nothing about their bodies had changed while they remained set in stone. Yet they had missed the taste of food and the act of eating, and now eagerly accepted the thick sandwiches David handed out.

"I know Talking Animals eat some of the same foods as humans," David said to Cuddy, "so I have a sandwich for you if you prefer. But I also brought this."

Cuddy's nose twitched as David pulled a fresh, juicy carrot out of the basket, the largest the rabbit had ever seen. He whined softly in the back of his throat, the first noise the dwarves had ever heard him make, and David chuckled at his abundantly clear choice.

Next he produced cups and a bottle of lemonade, pouring some for Cuddy and for himself and Jenny as well as the dwarves.

"Thank ye," Thompkins said gruffly; the other two merely nodded, biting into their sandwiches with relish, and Cuddy looked up from gnawing blissfully on his carrot to flick an ear.

"I'm David," he introduced himself, "and this is Jenny. I know the names she calls you, but what are your real names?"

"Sonnagan," Thompkins replied.

"Dekhoffyn."

"Rarmitton."

"And what about Cuddy?"

Rarmitton shrugged. "We were always hoping he would recover enough to tell us; we never gave him a name, so Cuddy will do well enough."

"What about the rest of you; which names do you prefer?" David questioned.

Sonnagan glanced at Jenny, staring at him with wistful eyes, and knew what his answer had to be. "Ye c'n keep callin' me Thompkins, if ye want."

"Makes no difference ta me either way," Rarmitton agreed.

The dwarf she had called Willikins scowled. "Dekhoffyn," he said firmly.

David nodded agreement. "We can talk after you've eaten," he told them, taking a sip of his own lemonade, "but if you don't mind, I'll look at that knee now; it looks like it's still bleeding."

Thompkins nodded, wondering if this boy was some kind of healer. He thought he seemed too young, but what did he know of judging ages in sons of Adam?

And indeed David's hands were surprisingly gentle, if a little too clumsy to be professional, as he untied the blood-spotted handkerchief and eased it away from the wound. A scrap of cloth came with it, leaving a round hole in Thompkins' trousers; it had been part of the chip when he was stone, but could not adhere to itself as flesh did when he was brought to life again.

David pulled the leg of Thompkins' trousers free of his boot and rolled it up to gain access to the wound. A ring of red surrounded the dead white flesh that had been the chip, blood still oozing out in places.

"My father's a doctor; I wonder if he should see this," David mused.

Thompkins looked up quickly, nearly choking on a bite of his sandwich. "No!" he said fiercely. "I've heard of things that can happen to Narnians in the World of Men; they put us in shows. The fewer people who know about us the better."

"Daddy'd never!" Jenny protested.

"Aye, Daughter of Eve, but he might mention it ta someone else, an' then… Best not to risk it; my knee'll be all right."

David frowned, biting his lip; torn between wanting to treat this "patient" himself and the worrying knowledge that it truly needed professional care. "How thick was that piece of stone, Jen?"

Jenny held up two fingers about a quarter inch apart. "An' I washed it good an' everything!" she declared earnestly.

Thompkins winced and turned a shade paler as David's fingers gently probed the wound. "You'd better let Dad see," he told the dwarf seriously. "I think a piece of bone broke off…"

"Well, unless yer father can glue it back, there's not much he'd be able ta do about it. You just fix it up as best ye can, an' I'll be all right." But he laid the rest of his sandwich aside, the pain making him feel slightly sick to his stomach.

David sighed. "All right…for now," he agreed reluctantly. "This is going to sting," he warned, tipping the bottle of iodine over a pad of cloth. Thompkins bit his lip hard as David applied the cloth to the wound; just enough raw flesh was exposed around the edges for it indeed to sting badly. But the cream David applied next was cool and soothing, affording him a measure of relief.

"I'll check it again later," David promised, fastening a bandage around it before rolling the dwarf's trousers down again. "I brought some aspirin, if you need it…?"

"Aspirin?" Thompkins questioned, his brow furrowed.

"It's for headaches," David clarified, "but I think it helps with any kind of pain. Do you want some?"

Thompkins nodded, his knee throbbing too much to worry about pride.

David frowned at the bottle. "Mum takes two for her headaches, but I guess a dwarf had better only have one." He shook the pill out and handed it to Thompkins. "Just swallow this."

Thompkins washed the pill down with a sip of lemonade, then leaned his head back against the wall, watching through half closed eyes as David gathered the supplies together and returned them to the basket.

After a few moments, a little colour returned to Thompkins' face, and he took a bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly.

The others had finished their sandwiches, and David took a bag of cookies from the basket and passed it around. "You'd better not have any," he told Cuddy consideringly. "I don't know if chocolate is good for rabbits."

He took two cookies for himself, then set the half full bag back in the basket. "And now," he said, settling back on his hand, "why don't you tell us your story?"

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	8. Exchanging Stories

**Chapter Eight: Exchanging Stories**

"An' so Jenny's kiss brought us back ta life," Thompkins concluded. "An' now we need ta find out how ta get back ta Narnia again."

"I wonder," Dekhoffyn said soberly. "We could find some out-of-the-way spot an' be safe here, I shouldn't wonder; safer than going back ta the Witch's rule, at any rate."

"But the Witch doesn't rule in Narnia anymore!" David said eagerly. "Aslan came and brought Spring, and then he killed the Witch, and Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy became kings and queens. They reigned for years, and it was the Golden Age of Narnia."

The dwarves looked at each other, able to make little sense of his statement or to understand how the happenings of Narnia had come to be printed in a book in the World of Men. But one thing he had said stood out clearly. "You mean," Hopkins said slowly, "that ten or twenty years have passed since we were turned to stone?"

David stopped to consider what he had said. "They must have," he agreed. "And the four kings and queens came back, so I don't know who's reigning now."

"As long as it's not the Witch, we'd better take our chances on finding out," Thompkins said firmly. "That is, if we can figure out how."

"In the book, the characters got back to England at the same place in Narnia they got in," David said, not very lucidly; "I suppose it would work the same the other way around. Do any of you know where in the woods you came through?"

Dekhoffyn gave a derisive snort. "All I saw when I was bein' trundled in that barrow was a patch of sky; I couldn't begin ta give ye directions from it."

The other dwarves murmured their agreement, and David turned to the rabbit. "What about you, Cuddy? Did you see anything?"

The rabbit froze, trembling all over, and then disappeared behind Rarmitton in a single bound, leaving David looking mystified. "What did I say?"

Thompkins and Dekhoffyn, too, looked puzzled, but Rarmitton understood. "Ye asked him if he _saw_ anythin'; he thinks ye mean what he saw the Witch do."

"O-oh," David said in understanding.

"I doubt he saw anythin' more than the rest o' us, anyway," Thompkins put in.

"Granma would know where she found them, David," Jenny pointed out.

"Yes, but if I ask, she'll want to know why," David objected. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. "Hendrickson!" he exclaimed. "I can get him to tell me!"

"Will ye go now, then?" Dekhoffyn asked.

"If you want me to," David agreed. "Jen, stay and keep them company; I'll be back in a bit." Once more he disregarded the ladder and went running across the lawn.

 **oOo**

"This book a' yers isn't very accurate," Dekhoffyn accused when David returned; the dwarves had spent the time poring over it.

David blinked. "Isn't it?" he asked blankly.

"He hasn't got any idea what a hundred years of Winter would be like; makes it sound like a normal January snowstorm. Any lamppost in Narnia was buried in snow years ago, an' where'd the Beavers get all that good food? If the faun was in the pay of the Witch, I c'n see _'im_ eatin' well, but any loyal Narnians were near starvin'."

"I don't know…" David said confusedly. "He wrote it for children; maybe he had to make it sound better than it was."

"Hmph!" the dwarf snorted. "Then how c'n we trust it that _she's_ dead; that's what I want ta know."

"We could go back and see — and if it's still Winter come back here."

"If we c'n come back; 'cordin' ta the book it don't seem to work by any rules."

"But you just said the book isn't accurate," Rarmitton pointed out. "An' yer scarin' Cuddy."

"Sorry," Dekhoffyn said gruffly.

David looked from one to the other. "I found out from Hendrickson where you came through — if you still want to try to go back?"

Thompkins looked at Dekhoffyn, who drew a long breath and nodded slowly. "Aye…I guess we'd better. An' even if things didn't happen exactly the way that book says, mebbe at least it's right about Aslan comin' an' what he did."

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	9. Heading Back

**Chapter Nine: Heading Back**

It was too late that day to make the attempt to return to Narnia. None of the dwarves had truly slept since they were changed to stone; though their bodies had not required it at the time, they could feel the effect now, and Thompkins especially looked exhausted.

David smuggled more food out to them along with blankets and cushions to form makeshift beds, and flattered himself that his mother had no idea he had anything in the treehouse. She merely smiled and let him continue to think so, grateful that at least it wasn't an owl this time. He had raided the mousetraps on that occasion, and wound up with a badly bitten finger when his new pet turned out not to be as tame as he thought. But she had caught a glimpse of the dwarves as they crossed the lawn to the treehouse, and fancied them escaped circus performers of some sort.

The next morning, Mrs Grahame allowed David and Jenny to eat their breakfast in the treehouse. She packed the food for them herself, being sure to put plenty in; even then, David was naïvely sure his mother had no suspicions.

After breakfast, he changed the dressing on Thompkins' leg, frowning when he saw how inflamed the wound was. "You really _should_ let Dad see this," he said sternly.

"I'll be all right," Thompkins insisted gruffly, wincing as David applied more iodine to the raw flesh.

David pressed a hand to Thompkins' forehead. "You don't have a fever, so I _guess_ it's not infected," he said doubtfully. "I suppose you _do_ have healers in Narnia?"

"Aye, an' if the White Witch is truly gone, they shouldn't be that hard ta find," Dekhoffyn supplied.

David sighed and began bandaging the knee once more. "All right, then," he agreed reluctantly, getting to his feet. "I'll go get a few things we need, and then we can be off."

He returned shortly pulling a small red wagon, which he left at the foot of the ladder. "Jen, I think you'd better go in the house and distract Mum so she doesn't see us leaving."

Jenny's face fell. "But I wanted to come to Narnia, too!"

"We'll wait for you," David promised impatiently. "Just go ask Mum to do something at the back of the house; in about twenty minutes you can come to where the path enters the woods, and we'll be there."

Jenny sighed. "All right," she agreed reluctantly. Giving Cuddy one last pat, she scrambled down the ladder and ran toward the house, looking back once as if afraid of missing something.

"The two o' ye are comin' ta Narnia with us?" Thompkins asked with raised eyebrows, not having missed Jenny's words.

David grinned. "I hope so."

"It may not be safe fer ye, son of Adam," Thompkins warned.

David shrugged. "It wasn't safe in the book, either, but they ended up all right. Anyway, we don't have time to discuss it here; Jenny's not the best judge of time, and if she's afraid we'll leave without her, her twenty minutes is apt to be a little short. So unless you want to risk Mum seeing you…"

He held out his arms to Cuddy, and the rabbit jumped into them with little hesitation for the trip down from the treehouse.

Thompkins came next, slowly; his knee had stiffened overnight, and going down put more strain on it than going up. When he reached the bottom, he clung to the ladder, white-faced, and wondered if he was going to be sick.

"Here," David said quietly. "I brought the wagon for you to ride in."

Thompkins nodded silently and accepted David's aid into the wagon without arguing; it was plain he couldn't manage a walk of more than a few yards.

Dekhoffyn cast an anxious glance at him as he tucked his friend's staff into the wagon beside him. "Mebbe ye should see th' boy's father," he worried.

Thompkins shook his head. "I'm all right. Just try not to hit any bumps there, son of Adam."

David exchanged a worried glance with Dekhoffyn, but picked up the wagon's handle without saying anything. Small though he might be, Thompkins was an adult, and David didn't feel he had the right to bring him to his father by force.

 **Next chapter coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	10. Disappointment

**Chapter Ten: Disappointment**

"Do ye mean ta leave yer sister behind?" Thompkins questioned as they reached the edge of the woods. He felt an almost fatherly protectiveness toward his little daughter of Eve, though whether he was afraid that she would be left behind, or afraid that she would be allowed to come, was more than he could say. Of course he hated for her to be disappointed, and yet if there was any danger he wanted her as far from it as possible.

But David was looking at him in almost offended surprise. "Of course not."

He had often left Jenny behind in the past, not caring to have a small sister tagging along on boyish pursuits, but this was different. He knew well who had brought the dwarves to life, and his sense of fair play demanded that she be included now; it was all the apology she was likely to receive for his earlier teasing.

Even as they spoke, Jenny came running up. "Here I am!" she panted. "Mummy didn't see any of you!"

"Let's go, then," David said. He started down the trail pulling the wagon, and Jenny skipped along next to it at Thompkins' side.

Deep in the woods, they came upon the pile of dirt from which Lady Lobelia had dug the statues, and for a moment they simply stood regarding it silently.

"Do we just climb it, do ye suppose?" Dekhoffyn ventured.

"If all this dirt came through with you, the gateway may be behind it; that's why I brought shovels," David explained.

Dekhoffyn shrugged. "It's as good a guess as any. I still don't see how four statues could come through a gate in the first place."

"Mebbe the whole place caved in, an' the gate opened up under our very feet," Rarmitton suggested.

Thompkins glanced up at the leaf-mottled sky. "In that case the gateway would be _above_ the pile, an' our only way back would be by flying."

"But look at the fall o' earth," Dekhoffyn objected. "I know the gardener disturbed it gettin' us out, but it doesn't look to me like it came straight down. It looks like it poured through from that side."

"Then that's where we dig," David said firmly, picking up a shovel and driving it determinedly into the ground. The two other able dwarves followed his lead, leaving Thompkins, Jenny, and Cuddy to watch.

After half an hour of digging, they came to what appeared to be a door opening into a hillside, choked with more dirt and rubble than they had just dug through.

"This is it," Dekhoffyn whispered in awe, and Thompkins got up and hobbled over to reverently reach through and touch dirt that was in Narnia.

Dekhoffyn and Rarmitton gripped their spades with new determination, but Thompkins pulled David back when he stepped forward to join them. "No, lad. Ye don't know anythin' about minin'; ye could bring it all down on yer heads."

David sighed but stepped back without argument, conceding to the authority of Thompkins' superior age and knowledge.

It took Rarmitton and Dekhoffyn several hours to tunnel carefully through the cave-in, several times pausing to find a suitable branch to shore up a weak spot. When at last they broke through into Narnian daylight, they let out a cheer and came out dancing and capering for sheer joy. "It's Narnia! It's Spring! Praise be to the Lion!"

Thompkins dared not dance, but he threw back his head and laughed long and loud while Cuddy jumped and leapt through the dwarves' legs as only a rabbit could. "Aslan!" he cried in the first word he had Spoken since meeting the Witch.

Caught up in the excitement, David and Jenny joined hands and twirled around and around until they dropped to the ground, dizzy and exhausted. "Narnia! We're going to Narnia!"

At last Rarmitton and Dekhoffyn calmed enough to return to work, enlarging the place where they had broken through until even David would be able to pass without stooping. But though they had of course been in Narnia for some time as they tunnelled through what had once been their cave home, they carefully did not step through into the open. That privilege was reserved for those who in Narnia would always be afforded the highest honour, second only to Aslan himself.

Laying their spades on the ground, they bowed toward David. "Sons and daughters of Adam and Eve before dwarves."

Hand in hand, barely breathing in their excitement, David and Jenny walked slowly toward the opening.

But their hopes were cruelly dashed. Though they could see the tunnel and the golden glow of Narnian daylight beyond, they were stopped short as if by a wall of earth at the very place where Narnia met the World of Men; Jenny even sneezed as some of the dirt got into her nose. "Wh-what happened?"

"We can't get through," David said dully.

"B-but I wanted to go to Narnia!" Jenny cried, tears welling in her eyes.

David shrugged, trying to hide his own disappointment. "So did I, but I guess Narnia doesn't need us." Pulling the bottle of iodine from his pocket, he handed it to Thompkins. "Here," he said roughly. "Put some of this on your knee every night and morning, and make sure you find a healer soon."

"I will, lad," Thompkins promised solemnly. "Here now, little daughter of Eve; don't cry." He held out his arms, and Jenny fell into them, sobbing.

"But I'll never see you again!"

The force of her embrace pushed Thompkins sideways, and he felt something hard in his pocket; putting his hand in, he discovered something he had long forgotten he had. "Here, little one; if ye can't come ta Narnia, here's a piece of Narnia ta keep with you."

Jenny sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "What is it?"

"We were minin' fer coal, but occasionally we found other things; that's a fine ruby, though it don't look like much the state it's in now."

David whistled softly, leaning over to see the stone.

"Ye keep that safe," Thompkins continued, "an' when ye get older ye can take it ta a jeweller, an' it will make a fine ring fer ye ta wear."

"I will," Jenny promised. "And I'll wear it every day, and never forget you!"

Thompkins tried to reply but found his throat too thick to speak, so merely hugged his little daughter of Eve one last time.

Final goodbyes were said to the others, and then the dwarves and Cuddy crossed through the opening. As the last one passed through, the view into Narnia vanished, leaving only a churned-up pile of dirt.

"I still wish we could have gone," Jenny said in a small voice.

"So do I," David admitted. "But I guess Aslan had his reasons. And Peter, Susan, and Edmund didn't get through the wardrobe the first time they tried, either; maybe we'll find our own way into Narnia someday."

 **Epilogue coming next week!**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The next time David and Jenny went to visit their grandmother, she stood waiting for them at the end of the lane. "Jenny…I'm afraid I have some sad news for you, honey."

"Wh-what?" Jenny asked, her hand finding its way into David's.

"Those statues that you liked so much…well, they're gone."

Jenny relaxed, though she still had to blink back tears of missing Thompkins and disappointment at not being able to get to Narnia. "I know," she said in a small voice that Lady Lobelia failed to hear.

"What happened to them?" David asked, a slight twinkle in his eye as he wondered what explanation his grandmother could come up with.

"Oh, Hendrickson's gone and taken them; probably dumped them off a bridge somewhere," she said in disgust and with little thought of how Jenny might feel about such a fate for her "friends." "He's never liked them, and I suppose that nonsense with the 'bleeding' statue was the last straw. But I've fired him without notice."

"Granma, you can't!" David exclaimed in horror.

"What do you mean, I can't, young man?" Lady Lobelia demanded. "He has never given satisfaction, and stealing or destroying my property goes too far."

"But he _didn't_!" David insisted.

"And how would _you_ know that; did you take them?"

"Well, sort of…" David faltered.

"And I helped!" Jenny burst out; it was closer to the truth than Lady Lobelia would ever believe.

She burst out laughing, her anger at the gardener forgotten with Jenny's outrageous statement. " _You_! Jenny, you couldn't lift even one of them. But if it means so much to you both, I'll tell Hendrickson he can have his job back. Though the way you felt about those statues, Jenny, I should think you'd be glad to see him go."

"But he didn't take them, Granma," Jenny said earnestly. "They came to life and went back to Narnia."

"Jenny!" David hissed.

But Lady Lobelia only smiled indulgently. "Maybe they did, dear; maybe they did."

Relieved that she took Jenny's story as mere imagining, David winked at his sister. Jenny giggled, and then unable to stop himself, David joined in hearty laughter.

Lady Lobelia shook her head, but her own eyes were twinkling in response.

 **oOo**

And what of Thompkins' knee? Once in Narnia, he found a healer to tend it, as he had promised, and in time it healed, though he always limped badly, leaning on a staff. And the young dwarves and rabbits never tired of hearing how he had gotten the injury when he stood as a statue in a garden in the World of Men, and of the little daughter of Eve who had brought him back to life.

 **The End**

 _I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know! (Note that this story is formatted using British spellings.)_

 _Please note that I have internet access only once a week, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie_


End file.
